PEDIGREE ANALYSIS

Marconi Tapit–Ponche de Leona, by Ponche Bred in Kentucky by Brushwood Stable ($2 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by Bridlewood Farm and Coolmore)

Marconi is by a perennial leading sire and commercial powerhouse, and is a half-brother to a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner. That combination made him the second-most-expensive purchase of the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale, trailing only Mendelssohn ($3 million), who went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Third in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes last time out, Marconi will try to become a graded winner in his own right when he goes in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream.

Ponche de Leona was a minor stakes winner sprinting as a juvenile, but did win at up to 1 1/8 miles on turf. Her female family is slanted toward speed – her dam, Perfect and Proud, never won beyond six furlongs – but her runners have found success at route and middle distances, led by Mucho Macho Man, who scored all his victories at a mile and beyond. He was graded-placed routing late in his 2-year-old year, won the following spring’s Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds, and finished third in both the Louisiana Derby there and the Kentucky Derby. But the long-legged horse was a late bloomer who hit his best stride at ages 4 and 5. A multiple graded stakes winner and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a 4-year-old, he scored his first Grade 1 victory in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita the following year, and then added the 2013 Classic. His rate of development bodes well for Marconi’s continued improvement, particularly with more distance.

Ponche de Leona also produced Southern Girl, a stakes winner at seven furlongs, and Louisiana-bred stakesplaced Mucho Mans Gold and Golden Finish, both winners at a mile.

Marconi and Southern Girl are both by Tapit, North America’s leading sire from 2014-16. The stallion has sired three winners of the Belmont Stakes, the longest Triple Crown event, in Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016), and Tapwrit (2017), as well as runner-up Frosted (2015) and third-place Lani (2016).